“He had the soul of an artist”- eAeon opens up on the time he met BTS’ Namjoon for the first time

BTS frontman Kim Namjoon aka RM collaborated with the South Korean musician eAeon for the latter's track Don't in May 2021. In an interview with Gear Lounge on May 7, 2024, the musician opened up about meeting the K-pop powerhouse for the first time and Namjoon's contribution to his music.

eAeon shared that in 2015, the Indigo artist contacted him for the first time and expressed admiration towards him. Back then BTS were rookies, having debuted in 2013 and struggling to keep their agency BigHit Entertainment (now HYBE) afloat.

Lee Yonghyeon aka eAeon stated that he was curious to meet the young musician, and after an interaction, he realized that Namjoon has the "soul of an artist."

“He seemed upright and wholesome and had good taste in music, and when I talked to him, I realized he had the soul of an artist. After that, we contacted each other and became close friends. We also go to each other's houses," eAeon said. (as reported by Gear Lounge)

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"I was so grateful"- eAeon recalls Namjoon's contribution to his songs, mono, their friendship, and more

As the lead single from eAeon's album Fragile, BTS member RM reunited with South Korean indie singer-songwriter eAeon for the song Don't. This was the second time the two had worked together. The Grammy-nominated group leader initially collaborated with eAeon on the song badbye off Namjoon's mixtape, mono, in 2018.

eAeon began with the modern rock band Mot, which had a significant impact on the k-pop scene. Meanwhile, he continued with his solo endeavor with the pop duo group Night Off.

eAeon told the magazine how his friendship with the young rapper developed over the years and turned a new leaf in 2018 when RM was working on his first mixtape mono.

Later, Namjoon assisted eAeon with his album Fragile. The latter had requested that he appear on the song Maybe, but the BTS rapper preferred Don't, so he offered to work on both tracks and let eAeon make the final decision.

The South Korean glitch pop musician continued that by 2018, RM had become quite popular worldwide as BTS became a global sensation. The band's album Love Yourself: Answer and the BTS' Love Yourself World Tour in 2018 was a mega-success.

eAeon mentioned that when RM offered to work on both his songs and asked eAeon to pick the best one, he felt extremely "grateful" for the BTS leader's humility and dedication.

"In fact, by this time, Namjoon had already become a world superstar, so I wondered if I could treat him like this (laughs), but I was so grateful. In the end, Namjoon made the right choice. 'Don't' came out so well that I went with that song, and I think it didn't just do well on the charts, it did a lot of good things.” eAeon said.

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Meanwhile, BTS' RM is set to release his second solo album Right Place, Wrong Person on May 24, 2024. The album's pre-release track come back to me will be released on May 10 at 1 pm KST (12 am ET).